In the area of automatic call distribution (ACD) systems, there are limitations as to the quantity of skills a call handler (e.g., a call center agent) may be allotted. However, a call center for a national insurance agency may employ state-licensed insurance agents for all 50 of the United States, and provide insurance products for several lines of businesses (e.g. auto, health, life, etc.). If such a call center assigns agents to multiple states and multiple lines of business (LOB), the overall number of state-LOB skills might exceed the skill allotment limitations of the ACD equipment. Methods for distributing “common” and “rare” skills among call handlers are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,411 to Flockhart et al. However this reference does not describe any method for optimizing the skill distribution where ACD equipment limitations may exist. Other similarly deficient prior art methods of call center skill distribution include U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,452, issued September, 1977 to Oehring, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,869 issued October, 1998 to Brooks, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,441 issued July, 2000 to Flockart, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,066 issued June, 2002 to Andruska, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,192 issued June, 2003 to Agusta, U.S. Pat. No. 6,771,765 issued August, 2004 to Crowther, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,966 issued July, 2006 to Benjamin, et al.
Accordingly, a need remains for a method for optimizing the skills assigned to the call handlers to meet the business needs of the call center. The method must address and/or balance the following areas: Limit the quantity of skills assigned to each call handler such that the quantity does not exceed the hardware or software limitations of the ACD system; Achieve a desired level of service; Typically expressed as average speed of answer (ASA) or a percentage of calls answered within a specified time interval, 80 percent in 20 seconds is an industry standard; Balance call handling opportunities, in the case of a call center where the call handlers are compensated for the calls that they answer; Minimize (or otherwise optimize) the cost of training call handlers for each acquired skill; Minimize (or otherwise optimize) the amount of information that the call handler is required to retain related to any acquired skill.